I have an X68 motherboard by Gigabyte, onboard audio is ok (used to use it for desktop speakers) but Creative products are a noticeable step up. I've heard rumblings that the Sony MDR-1 is a competitively well-performing headphone in it's segment, but I haven't read a review on it yet (share your thoughts?).

Mad mentions several good sub-$200 options in his guide here (1st page), and ones that sound best with good amping are noted as such in the reviews. One of the most recent good headphones has been mentioned by Mad on pretty much every page of this thread since he got it several months ago: Sony MDR-MA900. Read up on it in the guide, and read the whole guide while you're at it, it's a great resource to make your own conclusions from to answer your questions.

Edit: PurpleAngel beat me to responding
He mentioned already having a random soundcard... Chances are it's about as good as the Xonar. If the Creative soundcard is broken though, the Xonar DG is a good starting place, also the Creative online store (fulfillment by Amazon) is having a 30% off sale till the 22nd using coupon code 30GIFT13

Yeah I mean I haven't read many in depth reviews of the MDR1s, I might add I would really want a closed rather than open headphone, otherwise I would probably own the MA900 already because it seems amazing :D I just really don't want sound leakage. Also I've heard people say that a soundcard really isn't necessary or sometimes harmful to audio, I have no clue what basis that's on, same people said best thing is just to plug your headphones into a simple external dac/amp and call it a day. That being said I really like Creative's new technologies, so I wouldn't be strictly opposed to buying one of their soundcards (SoundBlaster Z? It's just the ZxR without all the fluff I don't want) and plugging in a good headphone/headset into, the issue with that is that it takes up a PCIe slot, and that would mean on a future computer build I would kind of have to not go Mini-ITX as to have at least 1 extra slot besides my graphics card to support the card....

Really appreciate the help guys, audio is a very ambiguous domain so I'm just being open minded as much as I can lol

Summary: Is the best thing to plug an AMP into the onboard sound or USB and run headphones through that?

EDIT: Ok so the soundcard lying around my closet is a Xi-Fi Titanium from 2007. I'll see if it still works but since it came with my alienware desktop I can probably get a replacement for it under warranty since I got that extended warranty like 4 years ago haha

Edit: PurpleAngel beat me to responding
He mentioned already having a random sound card... Chances are it's about as good as the Xonar. If the Creative sound card is broken though, the Xonar DG is a good starting place, also the Creative online store (fulfillment by Amazon) is having a 30% off sale till the 22nd using coupon code 30GIFT13

Tried the coupon code (twice), did would not work (for me).

Where did the code come from?

Found the listing for the code, say "select" items, guess the SB-Z (SB1500) is not one of those items.

But the code (30GIFT13) might work for the Creative Labs Omni 5.1 external sound card.

Why do N. American cops always have moustaches? Try that look in Scotland and there would be total anarchy = a complete breakdown in social order - basically as we'd be absolutely pissing ourselves laughing.

*Edit* At least he wasn't pulling his knob out as he was walking in that photo..... Silly thing to say.

Does anyone here know anything or have experience with the SoundBlaster Omni usb soundcard/amp? It's on sale for 60% on Amazon and seems to be almost feature equivalent to the SoundBlaster Z, which is good, and it USB based so it's fairly convenient.

I want to pair a new pair of headphones with one of the soundblaster cards, just not sure which one. In terms of headphones, the JVC HA S680 seems promising and cost effective. I just don't like the cables layout on it.

The Mixamp is one option for virtual surround. I'm not yet firsthand familiar with Playstation settings, but another virtual surround option is the Recon3D USB. It accepts Optical input, but also has a PS3 mode that might be compatible with the PS4 and be a simpler solution. Works with PCs too, basically any device.

I might have to look into this because I have no idea if the mixamp or Recon3d is better quality wise.